Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.

From the Blog:

CNN: A rabbi, a Mormon and a black Christian mayor walk into a room...
Mayor Cory Booker waits in his wood-paneled city hall office for his next visitors. His life, even on a Sunday, is tightly scheduled. He checks the time on his cell phone and lets the ribbing of his two friends, who are now late, begin. “Jewish time is even worse than black time,” he says, “although I should never drag all the Jewish people down with Shmuley.” And then, about the other guy: “I thought Mormons were always 15 minutes early?”

CNN: Philadelphia abuse trial has taken toll on very Catholic city
A Philadelphia sex abuse trial in which a jury reached a mixed verdict on a church higher-up accused of protecting sexually abusive priests was closely watched for its national implications. Monsignor William Lynn was convicted of one count of child endangerment on Friday, and victims groups hope that conviction will pave the way for prosecutors across the country to go after church officials – and not just accused priests – in confronting sex abuse.

Monsignor William Lynn is the highest-ranking cleric accused of imperiling children by helping cover up sexual abuse.

CNN: High-ranking priest guilty on one count in child sex abuse case
Monsignor William Lynn, the highest-ranking cleric accused of imperiling children by helping cover up sexual abuse, was found guilty Friday of one count of child endangerment. He was found not guilty on a second count of endangerment and a conspiracy charge to protect a priest accused of abuse.

CNN: Prominent atheist blogger converts to Catholicism
She went from atheist to Catholic in just over 1,000 words. Leah Libresco, who’d been a prominent atheist blogger for the religion website Patheos, announced on her blog this week that after years of debating many “smart Christians,” she has decided to become one herself, and that she has begun the process of converting to Catholicism.

A reliquary box thought to have been used to carry the bones of John the Baptist.

CNN: Bulgarian bones could be John the Baptist's as claimed, scientists say
When the tools of modern science are applied to religious relics, the results are almost always the same: Science says the relics aren't what their supporters claim. The most famous of them all, the Turin Shroud, is widely regarded as a Middle Ages forgery, and even the Catholic Church does not insist the shroud was actually used to wrap the body of Jesus himself. So when Bulgarian archeologists announced two years ago that they had found the bones of John the Baptist, Tom Higham was skeptical.

The Washington Post: Why are evangelicals supporting immigration reform?
Americans believe there’s too much religion talk in the public sphere, and these days, it’s especially easy to be cynical. Scratch the surface of any passionately held faith-based position between April and November of an election year, and find a political agenda. That’s because issues like gay marriage and religious liberty motivate voters in the right and left base who might otherwise be lackadaisical or unmoved by their choice of candidates. Too often politically motivated religious leaders say “souls” when they really mean “votes.”

The Salt Lake Tribune: Group offers help to Mormons whose spouses are gay
In the summer of 2008, Sarah Irish Nicholson’s well-ordered Mormon life was unraveling, and she needed someone to talk to. Nicholson’s husband of 13 years, whom she had loved since they were madrigal partners in high school, told her he was gay. Latter-day Saints in her West Valley City ward kept saying gay-rights advocacy was Satan’s work, she says. Though the couple remained together at first and honored their marriage vows, several local Mormon leaders were not only unsympathetic, they also were openly hostile to the news.

Religion and Politics: The Plight of Pagans in the Military
Stefani Barner likes to say she is married to the military. She lives in Eastpointe, Michigan, 10 miles from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, where her husband Robert is an aircraft mechanic. The Barners are also practicing Pagans—a faith often ill at ease with military culture.

Catholic News Agency: Philadelphia archdiocese cuts jobs, closes newspaper
Facing a $17 million projected deficit, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is cutting over 40 jobs, closing and restructuring programs, and shuttering its 117-year-old newspaper The Catholic Standard and Times. “I took this action with great reluctance, as one of several urgently needed steps to restore our Church to a healthy footing,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia said June 21.

Quote of the Day:

If you are not spiritually unified with your spouse, you'll never achieve the depth of true emotional and sexual unity that God wired you to have. Your faith is your world view. It is a part of your life and should be the biggest part of your life. When you can't share that, you're operating on different wavelengths. Disharmony in any personal area always hinders and prevents deep soul-satisfying intimacy, both sexual and emotional. Your relationship will never be as deep as it could be. People have no idea how important God is to relationships.

Author and Pastor Rick Warren told the Orange County Register, when asked how important it is for couples to share the same religious beliefs. Warren recently kicked off a seminar at his California mega church aimed at helping singles find love.

CNN: Bias against Mormon presidential candidate unchanged since 1967, poll finds
Bias against a Mormon presidential candidate hasn’t budged in 45 years, with 18% of Americans saying they would not vote for a well-qualified candidate who happened to be Mormon, according to a Gallup Poll released Thursday. The survey points up potential challenges for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who is vying to be the first Mormon in the White House.

soundoff(9 Responses)

Accept Jesus christ as your lord and saviour. You never know how soon is too late. Transcend the worldly illusion of enslavement.
The world denounces truth....

Accepting Jesus Christ (for me) resulted in something like seeng a new colour. You will see it .....but will not be able to clearly explain it to anyone else..... Its meant to be that way to transend any selfism within you.

Also... much the world arranges "surrounding dark matter into something to be debated" in such a way that protects/inflates the ego.

The key is be present and transcend our own desire to physically see evidence. We don't know anyways by defending our own perception of dark matter.

Currently.... most of us are constructing our own path that suits our sin lifestyle. Were all sinners. Knowing that we are is often an issue. But both christians and non are sinners.

We don't like to Let go and let god. We want control to some degree. This is what Jesus asks us to do. "Follow me".
It's the hardest thing to do... but is done by letting the truth of scripture lead you (redemptive revelation)... as I said .

Try reading corinthians and see if it makes sense to you. Try it without a pre conceived notion of it being a fairy tale.
See the truth...
do we do what it says in todays society... is it relevant... so many have not recently read and only hinge their philosophy on what they have heard from som other person...which may have been full of arogance pride or vanity..

Just think if you can find any truth you can take with you ....in any of these things. When you die your riches go to someone who will spend away your life..... You will be forgotten.... history will repeat iteslf.... the greatest minds knowledge fade or are eventually plagerzed..... your good deeds will be forgotten and only give you a fleeting temporary reward . your learned teachings are forgotten or mutated..... your gold is transfered back to the rullers that rule you through deception. Your grave will grow over . This is truth .

Trancsend your egoism and free yourself from this dominion of satan. Understand you are a sinner and part of the collective problem of this worldly matrix... Repent.... Repent means knowing (to change) The Holy spirit (within) will convict you beyond what you think you can do by yourself. Grace is given to those who renounce the world. That are" in" the world but not "of " the world.

Faith comes by Reading or Hearing the word of god from the bible . Ask Jesus in faith for dicernment and start reading the new testament... You will be shocked when you lay down your preconceived notions and ....see and hear truth ... see how christ sets an example ... feel the truth....

Read Ecclesiastes. Read corinthians.

You cant trancend your own egoism by adapting a world philosophy to suit your needs. Seek the truth in Christ.

Sell all your cleverness and purchase true bewilderment. You don't get what you want ....you get what you are in christ.

I promise this has been the truth for me. In Jesus christ .

Think of what you really have to lose. ...your ego?

Break the Matrix of illusion that holds your senses captive.

once you do . you too will have the wisdom of God that comes only through the Holy Spirit. Saved By grace through Faith. Just like seeing a new colour.... can't explain it to a transient caught in the matrix of worldly deception.
You will also see how the world suppresses this information and distorts it

You're all smart people . I tell the truth. Its hard to think out of the box when earthly thinking is the box.
I'ts a personal free experience you can do it free anytime . Don't wait till you are about to die.. START PUTTING YOUR TREASURES WHERE THEY REALLY MATTER >
Its awsome and It's just between you and Jesus

my testimony

Romans 10:9

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved

June 25, 2012 at 3:22 pm |

Cal

I just noticed that the speed read includes the speed read.

June 25, 2012 at 10:52 am |

Atheism is not healthy fot children and other living things

Prayer changes things

June 25, 2012 at 4:31 am |

derp

For the worse

June 25, 2012 at 8:40 am |

Jack

What are "fot children"?

June 25, 2012 at 9:32 am |

Atheism is not healthy for children and other living things says

See the power of prayer work at prolapsed.net.

June 25, 2012 at 10:26 am |

Delusions 3:15

see the power of prayer at can'tregrowlimbs.com, http://www.nairaland.com/654226/why-amputated-limbs-not-healed/1

June 25, 2012 at 11:24 am |

The Healthy Fot Children Of Dr. Fu Manchu

H. L. Mencken explains the prayer troll:

"Most people are unable to write because they are unable to think, and they are unable to think because they congenitally lack the equipment to do so, just as they congenitally lack the equipment to fly over the moon."

June 25, 2012 at 11:59 am |

Jesus

Prayer doesn’t not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.

An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.

The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.